The British Humanist Association‘s Head of Public Affairs, Pavan Dhaliwal, signed [a letter to the Observer](The proposed Fullfledge school - Steiner, or not? “Letter to the Observer”) on behalf of the association opposing Maharishi and Steiner free schools. The letter was also signed by Melanie Byng, campaigner against Steiner free schools, who wrote a post about them on this website.

The letter begins:

Since the formation of the coalition, a lot of public concern has been expressed over the potential establishment of creationist Free Schools. This concern resulted in the Government changing the rules for Free Schools to prevent them from teaching pseudoscience (Richard Dawkins celebrates a victory over creationists, 15 January 2012).

However, not enough attention has been paid to what we believe to be two equally grave threats to science education, namely Maharishi and Steiner schools. Maharishi schools follow the educational methods of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, guru of the Transcendental Meditation movement, while Steiner education is based on an esoteric/occultist movement called Anthroposophy, founded by Austrian mystic Rudolf Steiner (Holistic unit will ‘tarnish’ Aberdeen University reputation, 29 April 2012).